Alex Vlassopulos
Alex Vlassopulos is running a Marathon (I never thought I'd write that!)
Fundraising for ActionAid
Story
Aside from the personal reasons below, I'm running the London Marathon to support Action Aid as I am keen to direct my efforts towards this international charity who are laser-focused on eliminating poverty in developing countries with a keen eye on the injustice that is forced upon women and young girls.
As for the personal motivation, I have Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) which is essentially arthritis of the spine and it greatly affected every aspect of my life from my early 20s to mid 30s until I was diagnosed and prescribed a (very expensive) drug called Humira.
Since my last blog 2 years ago, which highlighted my 15 year struggle with AS from my early 20s to a very late diagnosis and prescription of Humira, I have moved from strength to strength as far as my AS experience.
Humira has turned out to be my 'magic wand' and I am fortunate to say that I've been 100% pain and symptom-free since starting up Humira.
I am now 'tapering' usage of Humira and have slowly reduced my dosage to once / 6 weeks, from once a week. I am told that I am amongst the minority in this respect but I think this is more down to the length of time Humira has been in the field. My aspiration is to continue tapering until I get to one dose a year or even complete abstinence. No-one yet knows if that is possible but i will gladly share when and if this happens to me!
I have been keen to ride the wave whilst pain-free, so have taken on as many challenges as possible from Spartan Races, Duathalons and long distance running races and now am embarking on the road to the London Marathon 2018 (yikes).
I would greatly appreciate any financial support you could donate to Action Aid to support their honourable mission to those women and girls suffering the shackles of inequality from birth in developing countries.